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Should Russia Host The 2014 Winter Olympics?

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anotheoldgit | 08:51 Sun 11th Aug 2013 | News
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Yes.

WR.
yes
It is NOT an anti-gay law.

It is a law to protect ALL young people from "adults" who want to influence young people, be it sexuality, drugs, or whatever.

Judging by the number of "Jimmy Saville" type cases we have had in the UK in the last couple of years maybe we need a similar law here.
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That's a rather strange analysis, VHG. The "Jimmy Savile-type cases" all date back 30, 40, even 50 years, when homosexuality and indeed pretty much everything was far more restrained. Keeping such matters shut up and hidden can be far more damaging than having them out in the open.

You can't really "encourage" homosexuality. We are either gay, or bisexual, or heterosexual, or somewhere in between on the spectrum, and that is just what we are. No-one chooses to be gay, and no amount of influence will change your sexuality. So if that is was the law in Russia is setting out to achieve, it completely misunderstands sexuality. We absolutely do not need a law like that here.
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'the Russian legislation prohibits only LGBT propaganda among children'

Can't see the problem with that, kids have enough to deal with while growing up without being subjected to LGBT etc
I am not at all sure why Jimmy Sovile has been dragged into this conversation, since all his abuses were heterosexual. He could most definitely be accused of "aggressively promoting a heterosexual agenda" to under 18s, surely?

This piece of legislation passed in Russia sounds specifically targeted at the LGBT individuals, and it is unclear to me if it would prevent education of teenagers in school classes, for instance. The inference of the legislation, as it stands, is that such teachings. such "propaganda" would persuade otherwise straight children to become LGBT. This kind of thinking is not too dissimilar to the thinking of religious group. An individuals sexual orientation is simply not that malleable.
Well, that sure is a wonderfully-expressed point...

Why do we need it? Why do we need a law that stops homosexuality being talked about with children under the age of 18? It's known that some children are gay. Should they have to deny their sexuality and be unable to talk about it? That is a return to the past, a past that was damaging and achieved nothing, and you know it. Or, explain coherently why I am wrong and why we need to repress discussing people's innate sexuality.
Even if it is repressive, are you going to tell Russia that the Games are not on?

Who pays for all that has been built so far?

Who volunteers to take over and who can - at such short notice?

I suspect a reality check is on order on this one.
in order - yeowww....
Complete drivel from some people here. Russia is becoming virulently anti-gay. Jimmy Savile has got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with this topic and I am unsure why he was brought up in the first place !

I think that we should still hold the Winter Olympics in Russia, as it seems a bit late to pull out now, but I would like to see every athlete taking part to wear the rainbow insignia, in support of the rights of gay people in Russia, and every other country where they are at risk. There are plenty of places around the world where people are persecuted because of their sexuality, and its completely unacceptable in the 21st century.
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jim360

/// You can't really "encourage" homosexuality. We are either gay, or bisexual, or heterosexual, or somewhere in between on the spectrum, and that is just what we are. No-one chooses to be gay, and no amount of influence will change your sexuality. ///

Are you unaware that many 'youngsters' could be encouraged to 'experiment'?
Yes, they might, but it would only be an experiment, and what is so damaging about that?
AOG, if youngsters experiment, as you put it, what is wrong with that, provided that it is within our law?

Do you think experimenting in homosexual activity is worse than experimenting in heterosexual activity? If so, why?
Teenagers experiment all the time, AoG. Education or Gay Pride marches are not going to change that. All things being equal, more knowledge is always infinitely preferable to less, and attempting to ban such a dialogue on the full spectrum of human sexuality to teenagers seems both repressive and outdated.

The world would be a far better place if the State and various Religious organisations stopped interfering in human sexuality, beyond factual warnings about the some of the negative consequences of sex - unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases etc.

All the surveys and studies suggest that a very large proportion of teenage males have had some kind of homosexual experience - around 30% - but such experimentation fairly obviously does not alter your innate sexual orientation. Indeed the proportion of males that are declared homosexuals has remained remarkably consistent at somewhere around 10-15%, despite a growing acceptance of homosexuality, certainly within western cultures.

This amendment to the law seems far to open to interpretation, and can be used to justify discriminatory or repressive tactics by the state, and no one from a democracy should be comfortable with that.


Pragmatically speaking though, on the subject of the games themselves, it probably is too late to switch them to a different venue. It would be interesting to see what effect a very public demonstration by the athletes might have.
Question Author
jim360

/// Yes, they might, but it would only be an experiment, and what is so damaging about that? ///

It could become a habit of a lifetime. :0)
Not likely, unless they were already gay to start with.
I believe that the games should still go ahead in Russia and that no athletes should boycott them.

I like the idea of going, and showing solidarity with LGBT Russians, be through the wearing of rainbow ribbons and speaking out against these draconian laws.

One has to ask...exactly what are these laws for? They are protecting children from what exactly?

Incidentally VHG, this:

"It is a law to protect ALL young people from "adults" who want to influence young people, be it sexuality, drugs, or whatever."

Is 100% wrong.
AOG

What's wrong with people being gay?

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